The mastermind of a £115m Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison, according to the BBC.

Kautilya Pruthi, 41, from Wandsworth was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court today (8 March).

Mr Pruthi had earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining transfers by deception and single counts of participating in fraudulent business, unauthorised regulatory activity and converting, transferring and removing criminal property.

His scheme, which ran from 2005-2008, affected 800 people and lost £115m. Only £2m - £3m is expected to be recovered by the Financial Services Authority.

Judge Michael Gledhill QC told Mr Pruthi: “You are an extremely intelligent, articulate, sophisticated and plausible liar. In short, a professional fraudster.”

His aides Kenneth Peacock, 43, from Surrey and John Anderson, 46, from West Hampstead were each sentenced to 18 months for their part in the fraud.

The two men were found guilty of unlawfully accepting deposits from investors and not guilty of recklessly making misleading statements and fraud.

Victims were lured into the scheme with promises of massive monthly returns made from allegedly lending to companies in crisis.

The scheme first started to fail in 2008 and an investigation was started by the City of London police in 2009.